


Ningitachi

by jaeduhb



Series: Planes of Fantasy—Animaris [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Author's Universe - Animaris, Gen, Kidnapping, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 19:02:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8908306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaeduhb/pseuds/jaeduhb
Summary: AKA the Weaselfolk. They are the most inventive and curious of the animalfolk in Animaris. Master blacksmiths and builders, they are often revered as guardians of craftsmen, and the villages who know of them often have shrines dedicated to them or the Metal Titan among them. However, they are also known to be mischievous, though not as much as the ningitsune, and sometimes, their mischief can cause rippling effects that will lead to chaos, especially if the one causing it is insane.





	

**Author's Note:**

> It would probably take a whole essay to explain the ever-changing world of Animaris upfront; so, let's put it this way: Picture the Naruto world. Replace Land of Fire with Naruto. Replace all other land names with names of different animated series. That's Animaris in a REALLY basic nutshell. Everything else in this convoluted tale will be explained as the story progresses.

In the dead of night, the air was chilly and made the skin grow goosebumps, though it was midsummer. When the weather was nice, that was one thing. A cool breeze here and there, humidity at a decent low, and not a cloud in the dark sky was the optimal for this time of year, but Itachi found himself wide awake. The rest of his household was quiet, sound asleep like the rest of Konoha. Not him, though. His eyes refused to stay shut in spite of his efforts. He’d never had issues with restlessness before, and he wasn’t anxious about anything. At least, there was nothing in _particular_ that was bothering him. He had the day off tomorrow, too; so, what was really the issue? _May as well get up and do something_ , he thought.

Sliding out of bed, he crept out of his room and intended to sneak off to the training grounds, but that’s when he sensed foreign chakra. It was faint yet all around him, something like an expansive aura, and that explained why the summer night was unusually cold. Itachi activated his Sharingan and surveyed his surroundings, pinpointing the origin of the chakra. It was in Sasuke’s room. _Sasuke!_

He rushed to where his little brother slept, and sure enough, there was an intruder. However, they were very small, actually sitting on Sasuke’s chest that rose and fell evenly with his breaths. From what he could discern in the darkness, they were long-bodied and walked on four short legs. A weasel perhaps? If it was, then it was most likely a summon. “Sasuke, wake up!” Itachi said, pulling a kunai from his pouch, but his brother didn’t wake. He didn’t even stir in his sleep. “Sasuke, can’t you hear me? Wake up!”

“Shut your mouth, boy. No matter how much you shout, he won’t hear you, not while he’s under my sleep jutsu. Now leave at once!” Suddenly, the perimeter around Sasuke’s bed burst into flames, illuminating the entire room with a pale blue glow. The fire itself was wispy and nearly translucent, clearly nothing ordinary, radiating a winter-like coldness that bit at Itachi’s skin. Now, he could see the intruder perfectly.

Indeed, it was a weasel creature, but it had to have been an escaped experiment from a science lab. No common mustelid sported a human head, not to mention a face that was eerily like his own. Even the silky white mane it had was styled in a similar fashion, long bangs framing its pale visage and draping down onto Sasuke’s chest. Red eyes that seemed pupil-less were narrowed and focused on Itachi. “Come too close,” it said, “and you’ll find yourself with a horrible case of frostbite.” The voice was most definitely feminine.

“Get away from my little brother, creature.”

“Itachi, what’s going on?!” He snapped his head to his right and saw his parents approaching, both armed for a battle with their Sharingan blazing, and he silently thanked them for their presence.

“Tch! More of you?” asked the intruder. Her flames grew more intense and had all three shinobi raising their arms in defense from the biting cold. She herself placed her paws together, and in a cloud of smoke, she increased in size. Now, her body was big enough to cover Sasuke and his bed both, six tails lashing about whilst destroying the nearby furniture. Chakra was pulled from the air, and it accumulated to form regal garb on her being. (It reminded Itachi of a princess.) “Weasel Art: Freezing Flame Cataclysm!” She inhaled a gulp of breath and released a tidal wave of her cold fire. Even with their narrow escape into the air, the technique fanned out with a far reach, a frigid wind pulling them back down to earth. Luck was on their side, however, when the weasel could no longer maintain her jutsu. The three Uchiha were able to land safely, though she then emerged from the house with Sasuke wrapped in one of her tails, still unconscious.

“Sasuke!” cried Mikoto. “What do you think you’re doing with my baby?”

“ _Your_ baby?” In the moonlight, the creature seemed to have a preternatural glow, no doubt her overall paleness a big contributor, and she wore a look of indignance. “Hmph, I’ve no time to humor you, human. I must return home with my son now.”

“Excuse you?” The Uchiha matriarch moved to attack, having already weaved the hand signs for the Phoenix Flower technique, but she never got to carry it out. Her husband stood in her way. “Dear, what’re you—”

“Whatever this thing is, she’s not the sort you go charging at,” he said. “That, and she has our son with her; we can’t afford to be reckless.”

“I know that, but…we can’t just sit around and do _nothing_ , Fu!”

“And we won’t, Mikoto. Right now, though, we have to think about this carefully. Itachi, any ideas?”

“Not at the moment,” he said. He’d been too focused on watching the creature, trying to read her movements and predict future ones. To make matters worse, he had limited knowledge on summons aside from crows, and he’d never heard about or seen the type of fire she was using. She was a total mystery to him. As an animal, though it was clear she had human-like intelligence, genjutsu had a fifty-fifty chance of being effective.

“Farewell~, foolish humans.” The she-weasel revealed glittering dust in her paw, resemblant to finely shaved metal, and scattered it around with a flourishing gesture. It shrouded her in a thick haze of glistening black, and when it dissipated, she was gone…along with Sasuke.

“No! Damn it!” Mikoto charged past her husband to where the intruder once stood and found only the remaining dust, which had lost its sparkling quality. She was on the brink of tears as she fell to her knees and gathered the substance in her fists. Her family rushed to her side, but her mind was so muddled with fury that she didn’t really notice. “Bring back my baby, you bitch!”

“Mikoto, calm yourself,” said Fugaku, placing a hand on her shoulder. When his wife started cursing, he knew he needed to reel her back in before she did anything reckless.

“ _Calm myself_? Fugaku Uchiha, our son was just _kidnapped_ by a, uh, a monster, wearing the face of our _other_ son, and you want me to _calm myself_?!” she asked.

Itachi had taken several steps back, more than happy to let his parents sort themselves out, but his eyes never left the powder on the ground. The she-weasel hadn’t thrown it around to act as a diversion like a smoke bomb. In fact, he doubted it was anything like that. Even with his Sharingan, he couldn’t detect her chakra nor Sasuke’s nearby, and the temperature had returned to normal. There was no longer an unusual chill in the air, and that meant she was long gone. _But where did she take him?_ he wondered.

“Me, oh my, the princess sure made a mess of this place.”

“We’ve arrived too late. Princess Akayu will have our heads for this!”

Atop the stone wall that ran around the house, there sat two more mustelid creatures the size of small dogs. Each sported a human face—surprise, surprise—and one was identical to Itachi’s. That one’s companion, on the other hand, looked an awful lot like Izumi and had a distinctly male voice, which was mind-boggling.

“Well, better report back to Her Highness before she gets here. Hate to make her come all this way for nothing. Princess Tsumetaihi’s probably already made it back as we speak, and ther—” The Izumi weasel didn’t get to finish that sentence. Mikoto had saw them just as Itachi did, and she launched herself at them, grabbing the one by the neck and knocking him off the wall. “Wh-what the—?”

“You little bastard, you’re going to tell me _everything_ about that thing that took my son, _got it_?” she said with gritted teeth.

Itachi was very sure that he was seeing his life flash before his eyes as he nodded. “G-got it, ma’am.”

**Author's Note:**

> At the end of each chapter, there'll be definitions of Animarisian words, and that's if the characters don't explain it themselves in-story. (Though I probably will anyway to clear up any mass confusion.) 
> 
> If you're interested in this premise I have set up, be warned: You're in for a long and winding ride. Buckle up! 
> 
> Well-meaning feedback is always appreciated!


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